Submitted by Patricia A. Thank you Patricia!

Be sure to also view the White Creek Photos in the Adams County Photo Gallery.

These notes were written about 1986-8 about White Creek, Wisconsin, formerly known as Cascade in early years. Marian Wickersham Pease compiled this information regarding the times of 1916 and earlier. Much has changed since 1916 but it gives our readers a glimpse of earlier days and people in this small, but busy village, the activities carried on within the local hotel, dance halls, telephone office, blacksmith shop and stores. As of 1990 it is mostly a ghost town with only memories of what once was.

Edward Strom and family had a nice stucco house which could be seen west of White Creek on a hill just the other side of the bridge. (This house burned up in 1936.)

Ellis Strom was on the north side of road this side of bridge. (Ethel Artmg 1980)

May Morely's house was new in later years.

Silas and Arvilla Lamphear were in the little house now owned by Kenny Schilling.

Grandma Jenks lived in the present Richards house. She was Minnie Winterstein's mother.

Bill and Fannie Hall lived in tumbled down house.

Sarah Ferris lived where John Kujawa lives. Her husband was Smith Ferris. Sarah Reed's first husband was John Bergeman - they had a son Oscar and daughter Alice Ketchum. Their old house was Etta's parents, the Ackermans.

Forrest and Etta Meteyard once lived where Doug Hammond built.

The Bitsky house was once George and Etta Stowell's.

The house across (east) from Pat Lamphear's was Hamilton Walrath which in 1880 belonged to Calvin Reed, then his daughter Josie Fisher.

Reed's daughter Sarah Ferris had a little house east of her parents, which was sold to Emma (Blair) Pease Walton sometime between 1910-12. Later Frank Pease moved his mother's little house to Friendship, Wis. And remodeled it for her. It is near Mary Polivka's home.

Pat Lamphear's house was owned by civil war veteran Frank Stowell, daughter Vera and second wife Lennie who was a sister to Frank's first wife. Their brother was John P. Lewis, who at one time was county Supt. of schools. Father Lewis was a minister. A cellar hole on the north west corner of the church lot was a Dewing home. A cellar hole on the south east corner of the Helen Becker lot was the Moe home. He was one of the earliest millers of the feed mill. The daughter Amelia Moe was a life long friend of Sarah Ferris.

A cellar hole in land owned by Julia Lamphear's property there was once a large white house of Mrs. Cummings who had the telephone central office there. Her daughter Lillian Walrath took over at her mother's death. The house burned about the winter of 1916 and the John Walrath family bought the old hotel and dance floor and operated the telephone central from there. They moved to Nekoosa, Wis. about 1921-2. Mary Austin owned the present Helen Becker property. (Now in 1997 it is owned by a Becker son.)

A little house next door to Becker property with a barn were Phil and Maggie Rhineheimer's as was the nice, red stucco house. The little house was Phil's garage for his 1914 Ford. Phil had moved the garage from a lot across from the cemetery which had belonged to young Frank Stowell as his home. My grandfather Horace E. Fuller later owned that land but Claude Meteyard traded him some land up north of town to get the six acres back into his farm. Claude built the house on the farm. A Rezebek family later owned it. Edith and Milton Greenwood lived on the Claude Meteyard farm. Claude had been elected to a county office (maybe clerk of court).

Edith Brown was a grand daughter of Arvilla Lamphear. Mrs. Lamphear also had a son by an earlier marriage, Archy Dewey. He and wife had a small new home north of town on the north side of Emeber Street just west of the first hill. Ray Garthwaite had a small new house on the south side across from the Dewey home. Deweys moved to Grand Marsh and opened a restaurant. His wife was a great cook and very nice person. Ray later moved his house to Adams and lived there until he built Brookside on highway 13 - a gas pump and auto repair service.

Phil Rhineheimer's father bought, no, he traded what was always called the old Rhineheimer place from Stephen Howard for the store in White Creek - the old south store. Stephen was married to Kitty Walrath, Ham Walrath's daughter. Phil bought land south of his dad's land from a Mr. Deweying, a bachelor. The land had a little log house just about where the David Pease home now sits. After the present house was built by Phil, the little log house was moved to a forty over next to Pollex's for a family named Norby. They had been just living under the trees. They had a boy named Andy. The log cabin burned in a forest fire about in the early 1930's. Pollex's now own the land.

Down on the corner of 14th and Evergreen was the Louie Stowell home. (Frank's oldest son Belle Stowell gave music lessons.)

Cal and Celia Walrath lived on his dad's farm where Harry Hazel lives. The little house up on the north east corner of that farm Cal built for his first wife who died very young, leaving a young daughter, Ethel.

Where Loretta and Tommy Reuterskold now live a blind man George Lumby and his family lived. His wife had some slight handicap (foot or hand). They had a son George and daughter Gertrude.

The house next on the north was the home of Belle and Henry Troemner. He had the mail route out of White Creek. They adopted a baby in Milwaukee and later had one of their own. They moved to Janesville around the late 1920's.

A sprawling house, pink and white next to them was empty. It had been owned by a Mrs. Eungy whose son Charles had the stage route from Friendship to Kilbourne, now Wis. Dells. It left from the north end of Friendship at a hotel which stood where the present Clara Kirkwood home sets. The large livery barn about on present Mary Polivka home. The stage went down the east side of Friendship past the old Bohemian Hall, south through Easton on to White Creek. A large barn south of the old store had room for about twenty horses. Horses were fed and rested, then on to Kilbourn. Rhineheimers had meals and gave dances as the dance floor upstairs was good and the Rhineheimers were excellent cooks.

The small house where Mrs. Schilling lives was owned by Forrest Meteyard's mother but she had remarried and lived in Florida. Ross and Nellie Ward bought the little house and Ross opened a barber shop in the empty pink and white house. This house was later bought by Needhams but Bernie tore it down and built the present house and bought and finished a house started ??? By Martin Van Beek, a Hollander who made and sold wooden decorated wall plaques.

Highway H (once called Z) which now passes in front of Smiths tavern was opened up after adjoining land owners agreed to give right of way. Probably in late 1920's.

The old Smith house was empty in 1916 and later bought by DeVoes. Carrie Byers and Alice Smith were their daughters.

Thurya Avery and daughter Marian Avery lived with Mr. and Mrs. Allie Greenwood (Clara). Thurya's brother Harry and sister Rebecca Blount lived down on the farm across from Bert Heitman. (Roseberry's farm now.)

Ira and Nina Dunn had a general store now Hanby's tavern.

Part of Smiths tavern was part of the Witt home which sat in the present location of Audrey Witt Kujawa residence. One part was first moved just across the street as an ice cream parlor operated by Fannie Hall as her husband had a blacksmith shop in the vicinity. This part of the Witt home was later acquired by the Smiths and added to the tavern. One wing of this home is sitting on Helen Reichoff's property up on Hwy 13. Audrey Witt Kujawa's home was built when she was a very small child. They lived up in the house now owned by the Theisens, with Esther's aunt Worgusky while their house was being built. Pete and Esther had a baby girl who lived only a few months as well as a son Ervin. Esther died with TB in late 1920. Grandma Galston, a Scotch lady from log house up north of Rommels, cared for the family for a time and later Grandma Elliot did. She bought the horse barn from Greenwood property for son Lewis and it was moved to his farm west of Grand Marsh.

Thurya Avery and daughter moved to Janesville when Marian was ready for high school.

Dorothy and Katherine Crane went to high school in Kilbourn before 1916.

The small building north of the new home north of the dam was the Woodman Hall in which they and the Beaver Lodge held their regular meetings. In later years the Royal Neighbors also rented it and the Ladies Aid Society had regular meetings there as well as chicken or oyster suppers.

The two remains of former homes were at one time homes of the Frank Stowell Sr. family (the north one). A Wilson family owned the other. A son, Tom Wilson later lived in Westfield, Wis. and did building, which may have included some masonry or cement work. The Stowell family later owned and lived in what is known today as Pat Lamphear's place. The red stucco house of Rhineheimer's was built by a German fellow, Dr. Acktinach (sp). They had one little girl. Think Phil and Maggie bought it about 1912. They rented their farm to Louie and Grace Dehmlow.

In the pink and white house mentioned earlier a Dr. Lister once lived there and had an office in his home.

In the former Calvin and Sarah Reed home and later their daughter Josie's whose husband was Dr. Fisher.

The Reeds moved to Adams Co. from Clinton, Wis. down past Madison, Wis. Think the Reeds celebrated their Golden Wedding there in 1887. They lost a son in the Civil War. Their daughter Mary's husband Chauncy Austin was an officer in that war. They built the east room on to what is Helen Becker's house to make room for his parents in their declining years. Josie and Dr. Fisher did the same on the white house on the opposite corner for the Reeds.

Pete Witt bought Blounts farm when they moved to Nekoosa. He later sold it to Ira and Nina Dunn for $1200, and then Oscar and Millie Dunn took over Dunn's store.

Maybe around 1880 a Mr. Holden's family lived in a small home (which he built) on what later was owned by the Tabberts (now Fritz). He also built a small building on land on the east side of Mrs. Audrey Kujawa's property which the family used as a small convenience store which his sons - Will, John and Sam, and their daughter Margaret cared for. They took eggs in trade for groceries as well as cash. Margaret later married Phil Rhineheimer about the year 1884. His parents were owners and operator of a hotel and store later traded to Steve Howard and wife Kittie for what was later known as the old Rhineheimer farm. Phil and Maggie purchased adjoining land from a bachelor named Dewing. None of this land was broken, just wild wood land. They cleared all the land they used for farming including some acreage across the road, on two adjoining 40 acre tracts. Phil worked winters as a lumber jack up north to obtain funds to put up the farm buildings. During the Worlds Fair in Chicago he and his father went to Chicago and operated a saloon from which he obtained more funds for his building projects. After this time he built the home on his farm which is still used as a family dwelling (Pease). In the early 1900's Maggie had the misfortune to break her ankle, an injury that caused her problems the remainder of her life and Phil's health was deteriorating and they decided to retire and rent the farm. About 1912 they purchased the red stucco home in White Creek which had been built by Dr. Eck---??? or Dr. Acktinach??? At that time they rented the farm to the Dehmlows where Dorothy and Charles were born. Phil and Maggie took a cow and some chickens with them as there was a nice little barn on the property plus a garage, large fenced yard and a couple of lots back of the barn. Their neighbor Pete Witt also had a cow which was pastured on land north of the mill and Woodman Hall. Remnants of two old houses were still in the pasture up by the road. A good pasture with the creek running through on the way to the mill. The only milk available we bought from our neighbors who kept a cow. No bread in grocery stores until 1923 when Baker Ducharm started bringing bread down from his Adams bakery to the Easton store (another small town nearby).

Jake Kline's health failed due to his aging and on a very warm day took a little pail and said he was going blue berrying in spite of his wife's efforts to persuade him it was too warm. He went past the old Rhineheimer farm (Pease's by then) and on north. By late afternoon Mrs. Kline became more concerned for his welfare and contacted neighbors to learn if he had been seen. As we had seen him go north people went on that way and found him on the road going east towards Hwy 13, just before going north towards the Bill Reichoff farm. He had evidently suffered a stroke or been over come by the heat. He never got out of the hospital. The house was sold after Mame Kline passed away in the Friendship Manor. The telephone central was then moved to Olive Dunn in Dunn's store. She also had the Post Office.

The John Walrath family had moved into the old red hotel about 1916 after the large white house on the southeast corner of the property now owned by Julia Lamphear's family, burned. It had been the home of Mrs. Cummings, mother of Lillie Walrath. Mr. and Mrs. Walrath continued to operate the telephone exchange and rent the upstairs dance hall for dances. The family consisted of a daughter Beryl, sons Kenneth, Kelsy, Elton and Theo. They moved to Nekoosa about 1920-21 when John started working for the paper mills there. Shortly before that time the Jacob Kline family had moved into the small house across the street owned by Forest Meteyard and Claude, his brother's mother and the telephone was moved there. After Henry Troemner moved to Janesville, Klines bought the second house south of the Meteyard home and telephone office was moved there. Kline's eldest daughter, Margie was married to Ted. A son Walter was in the army - Roy and Harold at home as was a daughter Charlotte. Klines moved from their place this side of Charles Ward from a few miles southeast of Easton - maybe 6 or 8 miles.